Bilbao, Spain

Bilbao, Spain

Bilbao is the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is situated in the north-central part of Spain, some 16 kilometres south of the Bay ofBiscay. The city was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, awarded by the city state of Singapore, in collaboration with the Swedish Nobel Academy, on 29 June 2010. It was chosen the Best European City 2018 at The Urbanism Awards 2018 on 8 November 2017.

About Bilbao, Spain in brief

Summary Bilbao, SpainBilbao is the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is situated in the north-central part of Spain, some 16 kilometres south of the Bay ofBiscay. Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the centre of the second-most industrialised region of Spain. The city was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, awarded by the city state of Singapore, in collaboration with the Swedish Nobel Academy, on 29 June 2010. It was chosen the Best European City 2018 at The Urbanism Awards 2018 on 8 November 2017. The official name of the town is Bilbato, as known in most languages of the world. There is no consensus among historians about the origin of the name. The term Bilbo does not appear in old documents, in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, there is a reference to swords presumably made from Biscayan iron which he calls “bilboes” The city is also home to football club Athletic Club de Bil bao, a significant symbol for Basque nationalism due to its promotion of only Basque players and being one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football history. It has a population of 345,141 as of 2015, and is the tenth biggest city in Spain, with a metropolitan area of 1,037,847 inhabitants. Its main urban core is surrounded by two small mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres.

Its climate is shaped by theBay of BISCay low-pressure systems and mild air, moderating summer temperatures by Iberian standards, with low sunshine and high rainfall. On the other hand, according to the writer Esteban Callerino, it is just a natural evolution of the Spanish words bello vado, beautiful river crossing, and cove-I-Ibaia-Bao, which means “beautiful river” or “cove” in Basque. The word Bilbo is used to refer to a place after its location, and the historical name is Bilbo, while Bilbouto is the official name. On 7 January 2013, its mayor, Iñaki Azkuna, received the 2012 World Mayor Prize awarded every two years by the British foundation The City Mayors Foundation, in recognition of the urban transformation experienced by the Biscaya capital since the 1990s. On 19 May 2010, the city of Bilboe was recognised with the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize for urbanism, and was handed out by the city state of Singapore in collaboration with the Swedish Nobel Academy of Urbanism and the City Mayors of Sweden on 29 June 2010. The comarca of Greater Bil bao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain with a population of 875,552.